Hyderabad: Hyderabad was among the four major cities where a pilot study is being conducted to improve the viability of 60 fair price shops (FPS), according to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Wednesday. The study is being conducted in Hyderabad, Ghaziabad, Jaipur and Ahmedabad by the Central government in coordination with States concerned to provide handholding assistance to these FPS shops by partnering with Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) for provision of working capital and B2B online wholesale aggregators for sale of non-PDS items with focus on nutritional items. This information was given by the Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Nimuben Jayantibhai Bambhaniya in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. As part of efforts to improve the viability of FPSs, the Central government has taken various initiatives and requested all State and UT governments to implement additional services at the FPSs, including Common Service Centre (CSC) services, banking services through tie-up with banks or corporate banking correspondents, banking and citizen-centric services of India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), retail sale of 5kg LPG cylinders and sale of other commodities and general store items etc. Further, to address the skill development challenges, the department is exploring possibilities of conducting capacity building programs or short term skill development courses through the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to boost the confidence of FPS owners and equip them with the essential entrepreneurship skills required for venturing into new business avenues. Under the domain of operational responsibilities, State and UT governments have been advised to display information boards, preferably made of tin plates with colour painting showing beneficiary’s rights and integration of weighing scale with electronic Point of Sales (ePoS) devices at all FPSs and explore the feasibility of installation of CCTV cameras at all FPSs. The Public Distribution System (PDS) is operated under joint responsibilities of the Central and State and UT governments, wherein the Department, through Food Corporation of India (FCI), has assumed the responsibility for procurement, storage, transportation and allocation of food grains to States and UTs. Whereas, the operational responsibilities such as licensing and monitoring of Fair Price Shops (FPSs) including identification of eligible households and beneficiaries, issuance of ration cards, Aadhaar seeding, FPS-wise allocation and distribution of foodgrains, authentication of beneficiaries, etc. rest with the respective State and UT government. As per information received from Andhra Pradesh government, a total number of 29,872 FPS have been integrated with e-PoS device with automatic weighing scales. Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is being implemented by all scheduled commercial banks including Regional Rural Banks. As per information received from Public Sector Banks (PSBs), as on November 24, 2023, a total of 1,15,803 loans have been extended to FPS dealers since the inception of PMMY on August 8, 2015.
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